+This is the home of Shields.io, containing the badge design specification and API documentation for Badges as a Service. There is also a [gh-pages branch][website] containing the static web site at [shields.io][].

+

+We invite participation through [GitHub Issues][], which we use much like a discussion forum. This repository should only contain non-implementation specific topics: specifications, design, and the web site.

+Shields has been dedicated to the public domain. It is protected by the Creative Commons CC0 Universal Public Domain Dedication license. You can read the entire license below or at http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en.

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-If you want to add a colorscheme, head to `colorscheme.json`. Each scheme has a

-name and a [CSS/SVG color][] for the color used in the first box (for the first

-piece of text, field `colorA`) and for the one used in the second box (field

-`colorB`).

+As you can see from the zoomed 400% versions of these badges above, nobody is (really) using the same badge file and at normal size, they're hardly legible. Worst of all, they're completely inconsistent. The information provided isn't of the same kind on each badge. The context is blurry, which doesn't make for å straightforward understanding of how these badges are relevant to the project they're attached to and what information they provide.

-[CSS/SVG color]: http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG/types.html#DataTypeColor

+##Solution

+As you can see below, without increasing the footprint of these badges, I've tried to increase legibility and coherence, removing useless text to decrease the horizontal length in the (likely) scenario that more of these badge thingies crop up on READMEs all across the land.

-```js

-"green": {

-"colorB":"#4c1"

-}

-```

+![Badge design](spec/proportions.png)

-Both `colorA` and `colorB` have default values. Usually, the first box uses the

-same dark grey, so you can rely on that default value by not providing a

-`"colorA"` field (such as above).

+We have an effort to produce similar-looking SVGs through a web service at

+<http://img.shields.io>. That ensures that we are retina-ready.

-You can also use the `"colorA"` and `"colorB"` fields directly in the badges if

-you don't want to make a color scheme for it. In that case, remove the

-`"colorscheme"` field altogether.

+##Examples

-#Requirements

+What kind of meta data can you convey using badges?

-Because of the usage of the npm module [canvas][canvas-pkg] *you need* to have